Last year’s tournament attracted an average 72,000 fans a game, leading sport’s global standings above American football’s NFL in second and the Fifa World Cup in third

The report stated: “The rugby Six Nations ranked number one by average but number 48 out of 50 by total attendances.

“By total attendance, sports such as baseball or college football with a larger number of matches per season are at the top of the rankings.

“Given its status as the ‘global game’, it is not surprising that football accounts for more than half (29) of the 50 most highly attended global sports leagues and events.

“In aggregate terms, the huge number of matches played in a season helps the MLB baseball league to enjoy by far the highest total attendance (73.8 million), almost double that of the combined total of the various NCAA Division I American football college conferences (37.9 million) and six times the aggregate attendance of the English Premier League or the German Bundesliga.”

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